Concept:

The goal of this project was a look into alternative ways of displaying time outside of your generic circular clock with two arms. My goal in this was to remove as much of the typical "clock" aspects as possible while also presenting time in a more granular fashion.

It is made up of over 60 individually LEDs controlled by a Lightuino which allows for PWM of each channel making it perfect for driving such a clock.

Each number is made by laser perforating the basswood and then masking around it to prevent light leakage.

There is some distortion caused by the light passing and diffusing through the wood.

The back masked and painted veneer allows light to only come through where the letters are.

Wiring:

Wiring 60 indiviudually addressable LEDs required over 100 feet of solid-core wire which was all fed back to the Lightuino Arduino.

The Lightuino Arduino board is an awesome custom version of the Arduino microprocessor which provides 70 sinks that let you control the brightness & state of LEDs. It's a bit unwieldy to get everything hooked up but being able to use Java to control something as complex as this is well worth it.